Again
by meltina
Summary: Kilik finally reunites with his friends Xianghua and Maxi, but at the same time, the one who had slipped away from him makes her third appearance. Discontinued.
1. 1

  
**Disclaimer:** All characters here belong to Namco.  
  


PART ONE  


  
Kilik wrinkled his nose at the jarring smell of...he didn't know. It was more than likely what some of the locals called _wurst _("sausage"). Germans seemed to love those, he presumed, because every tavern he entered served the dish; and the locals ate it as if it were going to be proclaimed the new Forbidden Fruit the following day.  
  
While he practiced eating habits (which included avoiding meats) the elders at the Ling Sheng Su temple deemed healthy, he couldn't resist the tempting aroma and soon found himself in a random tavern with a plate of sausage and potatoes before him.  
  
He found the taste to be exquisite, as he expected. And in spite of the fact that this delicious dish before him was making his day, there was still a taste he preferred. A taste far better than anything edible. The taste of his first kiss.  
  
The taste of Seung Mi Na's lips.  
  
He had only kissed her once, weeks---maybe even months, ago. Yet the sweet softness remained---not just on his lips but on his mind. He had longed to see, let alone kiss, that charming Korean girl since he had last seen her in the Italian city of Venice. (Read Emerald Earrings -- Ed.) He longed to see the peerless luster of her long and braided hair; he remembered exactly how she smiled, frowned, and spoke in that assertive way he grew fond of. He prayed that just maybe they'd cross paths for a third time.  
  
But then he'd sadly remind himself that she had other goals, her own goals, in life; she was firmly set on achieving them and that the chances of him seeing her ever again were incredibly slim.  
  
The smudged, ale-stained map of the Holy Roman Empire set on the wooden table before him didn't help things, either. Its massive size and population only served to remind Kilik of the impossibility of meeting with her. Reality had slapped him in the face like a groped bar maid.  
  
Suddenly not feeling so hungry anymore, Kilik dropped the metallic eating utensil into the bowl, grabbed the map, and proceeded to turn to leave the tavern. As he turned, however, a pair of slender hands slipped over his eyes.  
  
He wasn't in the best of moods and almost considered using physical force to shrug off whomever decided to push his proverbial buttons. But a few low snickers paused him. This person was undeniably female.  
  
_Can it be?_  
  
"It's me!"  
  
He recognized the voice and nearly choked. He slipped away and turned to open his disbelieving eyes at the one before him. Much to his immediate surprise, a familiar person stood there. Live and in the flesh. "Xianghua?"  
  


*****  
  


**A/N:** Sorry about this being so short but I was itching to test this out. If you frequent the Soul Calibur forum here, you'd see that I made a post referring to this. I figured, "Heck, no one responded to it yet, so I'll just go ahead and do this." PLEASE tell me what you think so I can quit or continue while I'm ahead! I don't wanna be shittin' myself. =D


	2. 2

  
**Disclaimer:** All characters belong to Namco.  
  
  
  
The Chinese teenager smiled brightly and held her arms out to the sides. "The one and only!"   
  
And those arms of hers embraced the unexpecting Kilik, nearly causing the youth to leap back and yelp in surprise; he uneasily returned the hug, still surprised that his friend was standing before him. Of course, he didn't express his feelings of confusion towards her. It had been a long time since he had last seen Xianghua and he was honestly happy to see her. "It's been so long... How did you know I was here?"  
  
Xianghua grinned, flashing him her porcelain white teeth. "The girls all over this town have been whispering about a foreign boy with a mirrored belt about him..."  
  
"Ah," Kilik chuckled, running his thumb along one of the mirrors of the Dvapara-Yuga. "Dead giveaway."  
  
And, inexplicably, he found his memory returning to a certain letter... The letter where Seung Mi Na insisted that he speak and apologize to Xianghua for upsetting her before their months-long separation. "Hey, Xianghua...?"  
  
"Yes?"  
  
"I need to talk to you," he paused to look around, "in private." He noticed that, as foreigners from the East, they stood out like sore thumbs and were drawing some unwanted attention to themselves. It couldn't be helped. But the last thing Kilik wanted was to have strangers hear his conversations.  
  
Xianghua blinked her sepia eyes at him, wondering just what her handsome friend had in mind. Overcome with curiosity, she nodded and left the tavern with him, post haste.  
  
  
  
  
"So," Kilik bashfully gazed up at Xianghua through the thin strands of tawny bangs that often dangled in front of his matching-in-color eyes. From his spot atop a mossy riverbank just outside of the German village, he saw her fidget and glance away every now and then. While he knew Xianghua to be an active girl, Kilik also knew her enough to say she seldom fidgeted and only did so when her mind was occupied with some kind of internal conflict. He didn't know of the conflicts, as she remained deathly quiet especially whilst he gave her his most sincere and heartfelt apology. He didn't know if his truthful words struck a chord within her. He hoped they did, in a positive way. Xianghua was his friend and the last thing he wanted was for her to have a grudge against him; he couldn't live with himself if she did.  
  
Finally, after a few moments of thinking and even more fidgeting, Xianghua looked to him with her reply: "Of course I do, silly."  
  
Kilik felt the relief of a great burden at the sound of that. "Thank you..."  
  
"Kilik?"  
  
"Hm?"  
  
"I..." Xianghua's lips parted but no sound escaped them. The words were trapped in her throat, apparently. In a self-conscious manner, she rubbed the nape of her neck. "Oh, it's nothing."  
  
"You sure? It sounded very important," Kilik said.  
  
"I'm sure. I'm sure!" Xianghua replied hastily. And she quickly sought to digress. "Anyway, what did you do while we were seperated...?"  
  
Kilik's brown eyebrows furrowed together in suspicion but he said nothing of it. He didn't want to argue with her. "Oh, I just headed north," he replied cooly, keeping an eye on her as she attempted to look casual by throwing stones along the surface of the smooth running river. "I went through Venice---"  
  
"Ooh, really!?" she squealed. "I've heard so much about it! Isn't it a lovely place?"  
  
Kilik's eyes lowered and his kind grin nearly faded. "It's...okay. I mean, it's nothing to write home about..."  
  
"Oh," Xianghua said, her excitement about hearing tales of the lovely Italian city forever gone, "and here I thought Venice was a city of beauty and love." She wrinkled her nose.  
  
She barely noticed the somewhat crestfallen gaze on Kilik's face as he chuckled dryly, though without any mirth. "Heh. _Love_."  
  
She blinked at him. "Are you okay?"  
  
"I'm fine," Kilik said abruptly. Now it was his turn to digress. "Say, you've seen Maxi?"  
  
The Chinese shrugged. "No. Haven't seen him since I last saw you. But I picked up on a clue from some girls I spoke to on my travels. They say he's heading north. But he could be anywhere now."  
  
"Girls." Kilik shook his head, almost laughing. "Why am I not surprised that they know more about his whereabouts than we do?"  
  
"Beats me," Xianghua said with a giggle. "And the rumor of the Azure Knight and the legion of demons is very eminent here, too..."  
  
Kilik suddenly glanced to her as a thought crossed his mind. "So Maxi is..."  
  
Xianghua returned a similar, alarmed gaze. "...he's here in Germany..!"  
  
  


****  


  
**A/N: **Whew, that was kind of short, huh? Well, this was actually the rest of what I put up for Chapter 1, in case any confusion pops up. Chapter 3? Hm. I don't know when I can get that typed out. I'll try today but I can't make any promises...  
  
Please read and review or send me an e-mail at: kaldea@tekken.cc


	3. 3

  
**Disclaimer:** Namco owns all of these characters. Me? I just write about them because I have nothing better to do...  
  
  
  
"Life sucks. You know, first, my best bud---no, scratch that, my _brother_, dies at the hands of this axe wielding behemoth while I was in India. And so, I decide to avenge his death by traveling West with this pubescent---okay, he's not pubescent but he's a.... cherry. Yeah. A cherry. That pretty much sums it up.  
  
"Anyway, we were with this Chinese girl who makes it her duty in life to nag my ear off. So we're in beautiful lovely...Sicily. Or was it The Vatican? Doesn't matter. The kids were somethin' else. The girl and the cherry argued---you know, I think she liked him. And that's why they argued an---Hey. You listenin'?" The olive-skinned young man nudged the presumably comatose and red-nosed one beside him with his face resting against the bar countertop. A mug of half-consumed alcohol and a myriad empty ones were scattered around his sprawled arm.   
  
The man gave no response at first and only after a few more nudges did he even stir. "Mm. What?" the old man said, his breath laced with so much alcohol, the younger one was forced to lean his head back with a scowl.  
  
"Hey, that's not right, _mein freund_! I buy you a drink so you can listen to my story. And you fall asleep on me?"  
  
"But your stories are," the older man paused, trying to find the right words to say, "lengthy. hearing your sea stories seem to take forever. And alcohol makes me sleepy!"  
  
"Just because you've never seen a kraken and lived to tell about it..."  
  
"Marky--"  
  
"It's Maxi," the younger one interrupted, firmly and proudly.  
  
"...Maxi," the German said with a roll of his eyes. "If you really want something to speak of that won't make me sleep, speak of her." He pointed to the entrance of the tavern, where a petite young woman with the face of a fairy tale's princess came in.  
  
Maxi, though with slightly impaired senses was never handicapped when it came to scrutinizing beautiful women, no matter how much alcohol he drank; and this one was of no exception. He eyed her as she traipsed carefully through the place, as innocent and beautiful as a rose.  
  
He also spotted the gargantuan weapon, a zanbatou, held in her hands.  
  
_With many thorns_, he thought with a grin.  
  
"Have you ever seen anyone like her? Not me---well, too many times anyway," the man seated beside Maxi said. "She's a foreigner. You can tell. Look at the almond shape of her eyes." There was no doubt in anyone in that tavern's mind that this young beauty was from the Far East.  
  
In a way, she reminded Maxi of Xianghua, the bubble and innocent Chinese girl he had affectionately called a nag, just to make her angry, which he considered both cute and amusing. This girl was probably older than Xianghua by a couple of years; she was indeed taller and of a more slender build, if his memory served him correctly. And that hair! The stranger had beautiful copper colored locks twisted into a braid with tips that brushed against the small of her back.  
  
"She's real pretty, huh?" the drunk one commented.  
  
As the girl sat at a vacant table, Maxi faintly nodded to him in reply. _Where have I seen her before? I know I've seen LOTS of women but this one really stands out...!  
  
_Then he saw them. Emerald earrings appeared after she tucked strands of hair behind the brim of her ear. There was no mistaking her identity now.  
  
The situation was so surreal, Maxi couldn't help but chuckle. The girl eyed him suspiciously as he approached her table, his steps lacking any wobbles one would expect from someone who had nearly drank his weight in alcohol. She didn't shy away from those rubies he gazed at her with, nor did she succumb to the charms of his handsome and crooked smile. "Can I help you?"  
  
Just when Maxi thought his smile couldn't widen any further, it did. Tenfold. "Heh. You're that girl Xiang' fought with at Rhodes, aren't you?"  
  
"Excuse me?"  
  
Maxi grabbed a creaky wooden chair and spinned it with his palm so that it was reversed as he dropped into a seat on it, resting his sinewy and tanned forearms on the backrest. "You attacked Xianghua months ago at Rhodes because you thought she stole some earrings from you."  
  
"I don't know what you're speaking of."  
  
"Oh no? Then how do you explain," Maxi leaned forward and flicked the girl's dangling earrings with his index, "these?" His grin almost grew wicked.  
  
The girl gave him a disgusted look then turned her head with a toss. "You're just drunk."  
  
"DE-Nile isn't just a river in Egypt, you know."  
  
The girl abruptly stood and grabbed her weapon. Calmly, Maxi watched her stomp the life out of her galoshes on the way out. Only when she was nearing the egress did he make any attempt to halt her. He curled his lower lip inward further than he did the upper and let out a shrill whistle, to catch her attention. She ignored him, which only made him call out to her. "You're very stubborn, Mi Na Seung!"  
  


****  


**A/N:** YEOW! Two chapters typed out and uploaded in the same day! x_X That has gotta be a first for me... Two comments and then you can do as you please. ^^;; One, I really love this chapter 'cause it features Maxi, one of my fave characters---hm. I might write about him someday. And two, I tried to make this as easy to visualize as possible. I hope I did a good job!  
  
Please write a review or send me an e-mail at: kaldea@tekken.cc


	4. 4

  
The girl instantly stopped dead in her tracks. She slowly turned to look at him. The black haired man regarded her with a grin as flashy as his neatly coifed hair or his silken white and gold attire. The grin was actually more of a triumphant smirk.  
  
"How do you---"  
  
"Hm. Mi Na Seung. Sounds---and correct me if I'm wrong---Korean?" Blanched, Mi Na nodded to the man. "Oh," he grinned again, "so should I call you Seung Mi Na, then?"  
  
"You don't have to call me anything!" Mi Na angrily jabbed the man's shoulder with a sparrow fist. "How in the world do you know my name!?"  
  
"Oh. Chee. Don't act so surprised," the Dandy said. His grin was gone and he rubbed his shoulder with a frown. "Didn't the statement I made of you and Xianghua gave you somewhat of a clue?"  
  
"Oh," Mi Na suddenly reddened, feeling embarrassed for letting her stubbornness cloud her train of thought. "Guess I overlooked that..."  
  
"No kidding."  
  
"But you don't strike me as familiar," she confessed. "How do you know about the situation between Xianghua and I?"  
  
"It would make sense to say that I was with Kilik when you locked swords with her."  
  
"Kilik?" Seung Mi Na whispered. Her eyebrows arched so high, the man before her thought they'd raise into her scalp.  
  
"Yeah. Kilik. The young man that stepped in between you two to stop the fight? He stood about yea high," and he demonstratively held his palm parallel to the floor at about his nose level, "maybe shorter. Brown hair in a small tail. Tiny X-shaped scar on his left cheek. Mirror---"  
  
"I know who he is!" Mi Na interrupted, growing irritated with the man's patronizing way of speaking.  
  
One of the man's daedally cut eyebrows tipped in response to that. "Oh really now?"  
  
Mi Na's face flushed again, but she fought to regain her composure. "A-as in, I remember him! He was the one who gave me my misplaced earrings..." Of course, to Mi Na, Kilik was exactly that, among other things she wouldn't dare reveal to anyone.  
  
The man, somewhat satisfied with the Korean girl's response, shrugged and flagged down a passing barmaid. He requested some _bier_ for himself and for Mi Na, which she kindly refused and gave to him instead.  
  
"So what's _your _name?" Mi Na asked after some time.  
  
"Maxi."  
  
"And what're you doing in this country?"  
  
"Hey. What, are you trying to do some husband research?" he teased.  
  
Mi Na's foot swung into the man's calf, causing him to nearly leap out of his chair in pain.  
  
"Ow! You really oughtta control that temper of yours! Otherwise, I'll feel sorry for the man that you marry!"  
  
Again, she kicked him.  
  
"Ow!"  
  
  
  
  
"Are you doing okay?" Kilik whispered to his friend Xianghua, who rested her head on his bare shoulder, half asleep.  
  
"Mmhm," she replied, stifling a yawn thereafter.  
  
"We're almost at the town Heinz told us of," he paused and gave her a smile of reassurance. "Don't worry. We'll find an inn and you can sleep peacefully."  
  
Earlier that day, while on their trek further north from where they reconciled, Kilik and Xianghua came across Heinz, a farmer and trader heading in the same direction with his daughter Hilde. He offered them a ride on his large, two-horse drawn cart, provided they would not mind being seated admist piles of hay and hearing the endless thudding of turning wheels against the ground.  
  
At first, the noise didn't bother either of them but as the sunny day faded into night and as they passed through trail after trail, it was beginning to give them headaches, especially Xianghua.  
  
"And I'll make you some Oolong tea for that headache of yours. I promise," Kilik added.  
  
"That's fine---but really, you don't have to make anything for me," the Chinese girl said with a sleepy smile, "just be with me..."  
  
It took Kilik a brief moment to register his friend's words. He looked to her. And even in the darkness, he could see the faint signs of a blush over her nose and cheeks, and the innocent yearning in her eyes. "Xianghua..."  
  
"Oh! Listen to me," abruptly, she lifted her head off his shoulder and shook it, still blushing madly. "I'm starting to sound so silly!"  
  
She laughed a forced laugh. And Kilik too, forced himself to laugh. However, his thoughts remained on the side of Xianghua he had never seen until a few moments prior. Scratch that. Ever since he met up with her after their separation, she had been acting a little strange around him. And as time progressed, so did her strange behavior. He considered telling her his thoughts on the matter, but changed his mind after telling himself that he was being paranoid and just plain ridiculous.   
  


****  


**A/N: **It's been a long time and this [chapter] doesn't make up for it, I know. Sorry! I have tons of excuses as to why, but I'm sure you don't wanna hear 'em. I'm going to _try_ to make chapters longer. Next Chapter should be up within a week or so! AND, be on the look out for my reviewer sheet which I'm going to post on my profile soon. It'll help me with my writing, as it is more reliable (help-wise) than the reviews on ffnet---but that's not to say don't write reviews, because I most certainly appreciate them! =)


	5. 5

  
**Disclaimer:** Namco owns all of these characters.   
  
  
  
  
Seung Mi Na had never felt so embarrassed in her nineteen years of life. While the Ryukyu Kingdom native seated in front of her guzzled drink after never ending drink, and talked nineteen to the dozen, he was loud enough to be heard by everyone in the tavern; and _she_ was the one given dubious glances and irritated looks by the other patrons.   
  
At first, she thought of just getting up and leaving the tavern and this blubbering fool behind, but she admittedly needed his help. During his ludicrous speeches, Maxi had mentioned something about a "sword capable of single-handedly mowing down armies." There was no doubt that this sword was the Sword of Salvation she had spent nearly four years searching for. And she'd be damned if she didn't pick up on any clues as to its whereabouts. And Maxi, as embarrassing to be with as he was, knew his information. He claimed to have found out where the owner of the sword was headed and where it came from, though he had left those important details out. Mi Na was determined to decipher these "details".   
  
But what intrigued Mi Na was that despite all of what Maxi knew about the Sword of Salvation, he didn't seem interested in the sword itself. He was more set on hunting down someone who was searching for the sword. It was for revenge, he had said. Mi Na figured that was a delicate subject she shouldn't touch and didn't question him any further about it.  
  
"Berm chika bear bum!" Maxi air-drummed to some onomatopoetic song playing in his head.  
  
"Uh, Maxi," Mi Na murmured softly and harmlessly so as not to spurn the drunk Dandy, "I think you've drank too much."  
  
"Nonsense! I'm just getting started!" He leaned back on the hind legs of the chair and turned his head at an angle to yell out, "Barkeep! Another pitcher of ale, please!"  
  
"Sorry, but we're getting ready to close."  
  
"Up yours!" Maxi suddenly brought the chair down on all fours and angrily slammed his fists on the tabletop. "I bet they're not closing and just saying that to get us to leave 'cause we're foreigners," he muttered---rather, he slurred.  
  
"Ah, no, I don't think that's it," Mi Na said, attempting to sound sweet and patient with him. "I think they're really going to close. It's kind of late and look," she gestured to the now nearly vacant tavern, "everyone's either gone out or about to go."  
  
Maxi rolled his ruby-colored eyes. "Very well." Then he stood with his arms extended out to the sides. "Take me drunk! I am home!"  
  
Mi Na slapped her palm against her forehead. This wasn't her night.  
  
  
  
  
  
  
Xianghua blinked her coffee brown eyes open after sensing something gently tapping against her shoulder. Her blurred vision finally cleared up and when it did, Kilik's handsome face was in her field of vision.  
  
"Finally awake?"   
  
"Wh-where are we?" she asked, sitting up and checking out the environs. She saw stacks of hay, and noticed they were on the back of a cart. She had remembered a German man by the name of Heinz offering them a free ride to a hamlet a few miles southwest his own destination, Johannesburg. But everything else was in a gray area.  
  
"We've finally arrived," Kilik replied. "On the way here you fell asleep. And now, we're waiting for Hilde, who went to check us into an inn."  
  
"Who is Hilde?" Xianghua asked, massaging her aching temples with her fingers.  
  
"She's Heinz's daughter," Kilik said with a bit of a laugh. "You're too tired to even think, let alone remember much of anything," he leaned over and plucked his finger gently against Xianghua's forehead, "don't overdo it."  
  
Just then, a young woman headed in the direction of the cart. It was Hilde. "Oh, looks like she's finally awake," she said with a polite smile.  
  
"So what's the news on an inn?" Kilik asked as he hopped down from the cart.  
  
Hilde shook her head. "I'm sorry. The ones I've found are full…"  
  
Considering his luck, Kilik wasn't surprised. He sighed with exasperation. "It's alright, Hilde. _Danke_."  
  
Nodding to Kilik, and then looking to the Chinese girl practically stumbling out of the cart, Hilde couldn't help but feel concerned for the girl's safety. "Are you certain she's going to be alright?"  
  
"She's just tired. She'll be fine once she gets some peaceful sleep."  
  
"Ah. Well, I wish the two of you Godspeed on your travels," Hilde said, making her way to the front of her father's horse-pulled cart, where he and the two horses rested.  
  
"Thank you Hilde. And thank your father for this, too." Kilik waved to her and after she was out of his sight, he turned to a very weary Xianghua "Are you ready to go inn hunting?"  
  
"I think I am…"  
  
"Just stay close to me and you'll be fine."  
  
After several attempts to fully wake Xianghua up, the two were on their way, checking every inn that came across their path. As Hilde had said, the inns were full, much to their dismay. The majority of them consisted mostly of foreign customers lured to the country in search of a sword deemed miraculous by many and a tool of the Devil by others. The hamlet they chose to stop at was nothing more than a typical trading post. Kilik couldn't help but feel exasperated by the situation. Of all the days to curse him with ill fortune, why did the gods choose this one?  
  
The pair found themselves weaving through more than a few dark and narrow streets; they would have considered this place to be a ghost town if it weren't for the occasional wailing of a dog or the sight of someone hurrying to the comfort of their home. Or the drunks. Kilik and Xianghua had spotted a profusion of the staggers-for-steps folk engaged with indulging themselves with too much alcohol throughout the streets. They were all male and several of them had made bawdy comments towards the Chinese girl, as Kilik had expected. Instead of fighting with them, he, instead, ignored them.  
  
The two wound up unsuccessful in their search. "It looks like we're going to spend a night under the stars, Xianghua," Kilik said, apologetically after an hour of looking for a place to stay for the night.  
  
"It's alright; I can manage it," Xianghua said with a shrug, "let's just get away from these slums. Problems may arise."  
  
Kilik agreed with her and they began to make their way through the maze-like streets towards the forests on the outskirts of the town. As they turned corner after corner, the pair couldn't help but hear a strikingly familiar voice emanating from somewhere in the vicinity, in the form of a song. An awful sounding song, but a song nonetheless:  
  
"They're coming to take me away! Hey! To the place where life is good and life is fine! To the place where everything is mine, mine, and mine!"   
  
Both Xianghua and Kilik stopped walking and glanced at each other with a similar surprised look. They fell silent and listened on to confirm their beliefs.  
  
"Be quiet. People are trying to sleep."  
  
Kilik nearly choked as the air was suddenly trapped in his throat at the sound of that second, feminine voice. It couldn't be. It shouldn't be…  
  
"If they remain awake at _this_ time, then they're obviously not trying hard enough!" There was a brief pause and then, "WHOOOA! The cow kicked Nelly in the belly in the barn! The cow kicked Nelly in the belly in the barn! The cow kicked Nelly in the belly in the barn! The farmer said it would do no harm! Second verse, same as the first. A little bit louder and a little bit worse! WHO---" [1]  
  
There was the sound of something, perhaps a foot or a hand, clouting against something that rattled softly. "Maxi! Cut it out!"  
  
Xianghua was the first to react to the realization that the wailing fool was none other than his or her good friend Maxi; suddenly awake and full of joy and life, she ran up to the intersection and faced the incoming Ryukyu Dandy with a smile stretching from ear to ear. "Maxi!"  
  
As Kilik caught up to the incredibly nimble Xianghua, he noticed that smile of hers fade. Instantly. He turned the corner and saw exactly why.  
  
Standing there, holding a very smashed Maxi, was Seung Mi Na.  
  
  


****  
  


[1] If you're wondering where I got this tune from, I got it from Married with Children. My all-time favorite show. =)  
  
**A/N:** Remember how I said I was gonna make these longer? Er. Well. You see, I tend to get dragged off to Roppongi on my weekends and this is one of the first things that is put off to the side. Sorry! x.x;; I'm also writing other fanfictions the same time as this one, so that's another excuse. Yup, I am a SmegHead. Please write a review or send me an e-mail at: kaldea@tekken.cc  
  



	6. 6

**Disclaimer:** All characters here belong to Namco. Uh, the song doesn't... It belongs to Lenny Kravitz.  
  
  
  
  
The circumstances were so unreal, Kilik almost laughed. There he was, standing in the presence of the one girl that had slipped away from him as easily as silk through his fingers. She had escaped from him twice. And he'd be damned if he'd let it happen a third time.  
  


_I've been searching for you  
I heard a cry within my soul  
I never had a yearning quite like this before  
Now here you are, walking right through my door_  


  
An intoxicated Maxi grinned widely at Kilik and Xianghua, utterly oblivious to the silent tumult brewing before his very eyes. "Hey! It's the cherry and the nag!"  
  
Xianghua gave the Dandy a forced smile. And Kilik said nothing. He was engaged with watching the beautiful Seung Mi Na like a hawk, preparing himself to react in the event she chose to run away from him. From the looks of it, she was considering the notion. He noticed her wide-eyed look the instant he turned that corner after Xianghua. He then noticed those precious chocolate eyes wander about their environs, perhaps looking for an escape route.   
  
Kilik's premonitions proved to be correct. Not even an exchange of proper greetings was made and already Mi Na had made a mad dash in the opposite direction, leaving a wavering Maxi to nearly collapse headfirst into a trough.   
  
It was the first time either Maxi or Xianghua had ever heard the "innocent" Kilik curse.  
  
Quickly reacting to the Korean girl's sudden escape, Kilik's hands lashed out and caught his older friend. "Look after each other," he said to the pair as he turned to see that the darkness of the evening sky was on his side for Mi Na, with her vision impaired, was not too far out of his sight.   
  
"Don't tell me you're going after her," a disbelieving Xianghua demanded rather than asked. She gently set a groaning Maxi to a seat upon the ground and looked to Kilik with a hint of a frown.  
  
"I'll be right back…"  
  
"Why!? Why are you going after her!?" Xianghua shouted out after he had began to give Mi Na chase.   
  
"I have to do this!" he yelled back. And before Xianghua could call out to him any further, Kilik had disappeared into the suppressing obscurity of the village's outer reaches.  
  


_All of my life  
Where have you been?  
I wonder if I'll ever see you again  
And if that day comes  
I know we could win  
I wonder if I'll ever see you again_  


  
When chased, one runs, and the other cannot help but pursue. That is the way of human emotion.  
  
Kilik heard those words straight from the mouths of the philosophical elders of the Ling Sheng Su temple. He first heard them at a point in his life where he knew next to nothing about the outside world, or even the limits human beings would go to for answers until he had stepped foot outside the temple walls. And now he knew. He knew only too well.  
  
He rushed after Seung Mi Na through the woods with a speed he never knew he possessed. His lungs ached from his lack of practical breathing patterns as he ran; and every now and then, he'd decelerate to control them. Then he'd look to see Mi Na running ahead of him as fast as she could, and then he'd pick up the pace with a renewed vigor garnered from his yearning to catch her.  
  
The gods were definitely in his favor that night, contrary to his earlier beliefs. Mi Na had ceased her running to catch her breath; and Kilik, blessed with more stamina than the Korean girl, took that to his advantage. He quietly disappeared into a nearby dark thicket so as not to be seen by her. And when she had looked and saw that he was no longer several feet from her, her guard went down. And so did she, by way of a tackle from Kilik.  
  
"Hey!" Mi Na shouted out in protest, her arms and legs thrashing about madly, like a fish out of water. She also proved to be quite strong as she wrestled and rolled over with him several times upon the cool, dew-kissed grass. Yet, somehow, Kilik managed to hold onto her. With a bit of a struggle from the flailing, wild girl, he straddled her and pinned her arms down to thwart her lashing hands from striking him. His evenly distributed weight on her lower torso prevented her from kicking him or squirming away. All things considered, Mi Na had no chance of escape.  
  
"Let. Me. Go!" she commanded through gnashed teeth. Despite her situation, she tried her damnedest to squirm free.  
  
"No. I won't."  
  
"If you don't, I'll---"  
  
And Kilik's lips crushed against her own.  
  
Perhaps it was Mi Na's tantalizing smell, like that of fresh orchids marring his wits, or maybe it was the jarring and overall stirring reminder of what it felt like to have her tongue probe boldly around in his mouth again that made Kilik do that. He had never been so…assertive. Ever. And he in all honesty, loved it.   
  
What fascinated him even more was the fact that she responded to him, slightly, once maybe even twice. He felt her body tense against his, and it was all he could do to keep himself from…touching her before the ardent moment finally ended.   
  
Her breathing was loud and labored, and it tickled his ears as he caressed her bare shoulder with his forehead, on the verge of tears. "Please don't leave me, Mi Na…"  
  


_A sacred gift of heaven  
For better, worse, wherever  
And I would never let somebody break you down  
Or take your crown  
Never._  


  
"Kilik… I… I can't stay here," her words were soft, "please just let me go…"  
  
Kilik lifted his head from its nestling place against her neck and looked to Mi Na as if she had slapped him. "Why? Why can't you stay, Mi Na?" his voice was shaky, though still very stern and low. It was very much unlike him.  
  
"Because," the Korean girl shook her head with her reply. "I just can't..."  
  
The weight on top of Mi Na's compact figure lessened when Kilik rolled off of her. She didn't bother escaping from him for she was both too tired and too interested in what Kilik was doing at the moment. He slid a hand into the pockets of his outlandish scarlet pants and withdrew several sheets of paper folded together into a tiny rectangle. Time grew on the papers and it was evident in their manila shade and numerous wrinkles.  
  
"Mi Na. How can you say such a thing?" Kilik handed her the papers.  
  
Mi Na unfolded the papers and skimmed through the words. They were written by none other than herself, she surmised. And her heart sank at the realization that what she held in her hands was the letter she wrote to Kilik before she had left him in Venice, Italy. _Maybe we will cross paths again. Who knows? _she had wrote. She never knew fate had this in store for her...  
  


_I've searched through time  
I've always known  
That you were there   
Upon your throne  
A lonely queen without her king  
I've longed for you, my love, forever_  


  
"When you left, I almost broke," Kilik continued, though he had turned his back to her, ashamed to let her see his face. "But that letter... That letter was what kept me going because I believed in it. I believed in _you_," his hand curled into a tight fist, "something in the back of my mind told me, 'Yes. We are going to cross paths again, Mi Na.' And now, you're here, telling me you don't want to be around me..."  
  
"It's not that at all, Kilik," he heard her soft voice say. Her voice had trailed off, which only served to frustrate him.  
  
He suddenly spun about to countenance her. "Then what is it Mi Na!?" he bellowed, his voice echoing through the depths of the blackened forest. "Obviously, it's something you're hiding from me because I can't seem to understand!" Kilik noticed the tone of his voice was making her uncomfortable from the looks of her wincing and fidgeting. He didn't blame her for being scared. Hell, he was scared himself. He had never yelled at anyone like that in his entire life.   
  
An audible sigh escaped him, causing his lips to vibrate. He hung his head and slouched a tad forward, resting his hands on his knees. After a moment or so of trying to recollect himself, Kilik looked to Mi Na. "...Is it because of Xianghua?" His voice could barely be heard over the sound of chirping crickets.  
  
Mi Na shook her head, remaining silent.  
  
"Then what...?"  
  
"It's because of Hwang..."  
  


****  
  


**A/N: **First and foremost, the song featured in this chapter is "Again" by Lenny Kravitz---the song is what inspired me to write this fic because it kinda sorta went with it. Also, I'd like to take the time to apologize to anyone who has been following this fic for taking so long in putting up this chapter. I was bedridden for a few days and feeling miserable for a lot more because of a throat infection; when I got over the worst part of it, I was struck with a bad case of Writer's Block. However, I got -some- inspiration (after listening to Lenny's Greatest Hits CD on end for like 50 times ^_^) and I even have something planned for the next chapter. I'm gonna try something new; it'll probably be short so bear with me. And for those of you wondering, yes, Hwang is going to be in this story. =) Please read and review, or send me an email at: kaldea@tekken.cc  
  
  
  



	7. 7

**Disclaimer:** I don't own any of these characters. Namco does. And thus is life…  
  
  


****  


  
  
I watched as Kilik ran his slightly calloused palms up along his face, his fingers gently combing through the parted bangs of his brown hair, one of his most appealing his features. Though, admittedly, his best feature has got to be his personality. He's so innocent and pristine, like a little boy but with the strength and subliminal pride of a striking young man. His heart is as pure as snow and it breaks mine to convey any news to him that might harm him.   
  
But boys will be boys. He remained persistent, letting his emotions and eagerness take control over him as he tackled me to the mossy floor, as he passionately kissed me, as he damn near broke into tears before me, as he yelled at me and demanded to know why I couldn't remain at his side.  
  
I finally gave up and told him why with the name that, when uttered, I am not sure whether to beam or to cringe. "It's because of Hwang," I told him, softly. I could hear some wild animal howling on the other side of the mountains in the distance thanks to the silence he fed me thereafter.  
  
"Hwang… I saw him just days ago, but he didn't see me," I began, gradually building the nerve to look him in the eye. He didn't even want to make eye contact with me. "I know he's after me and­"  
  
"And what?" he suddenly interrupted me. He still didn't look at me, though.  
  
"I know he wants to take me back home." I shook my head at the horrendous thought of going back to the world of oppression that is Chili-san, Korea. Kilik knew of my dislike of that place. I made sure I told him that during our last encounter. Back then, I figured he'd perfectly understand if I had to abruptly leave him to escape the risk of getting caught. I didn't think of the possibility of such an outcome, however.   
  
"So you don't want to go back," he said rather than asked. And still, his eyes weren't on me. I tried to look into them but they were cleverly hidden by those stray wisps of his hair that served as curtains whenever he bowed his head.  
  
I nodded, as if he could see. "Yes. And that's why I have to keep going… That's why I can't stay here; I have to keep going if I want to achieve my goal and live my dreams…"  
  
"So why can't I!?" His yell was something short of a cry. His voice skipped and I could hear the choked sobs he tried to keep at bay. Several droplets of his tears plummeted onto the mirrored belt he always wore about his lean, muscular torso. The Dvapara-Yuga. "Why can't I live my dreams of being with you, Seung Mi Na?"   
  
He suddenly glanced up to me in all of his teary-eyed glory, and that didn't give me a chance to respond to him. Not like I could have figured out a response for him anyway. My mind was focused on the raw emotion he displayed and how it made my heart sink. Tears were forming rivulets down his visage and as he slowly approached me, I felt his warm body trembling.   
  
"This whole world doesn't revolve around you," he said, his voice suddenly a low baritone. Then there was a crescendo in volume: "Stop thinking of yourself and your dreams and try to understand others'. Start by at least trying to understand mine!"  
  
"How dare you say that!?" Enraged with his assumption, I lashed out a palm to slap him across the face.   
  
Conversely, he defended himself by lazily catching my wrist in a raised hand. His fingers curled about the flesh of my wrist, tightly, though not with a constricting grip; it was enough to keep me from trying to slap him again. Or from running away…  
  
"What's the matter? Did I hit the nerve that hard?"   
  
In spite of myself, I scowled at him. Crying or not, I was still infuriated with his remark about me being selfish. If only he knew what stress and emotional turmoil I went through to not be with him, even though I so dreadfully wanted to… "How can you say such a thing, Kilik?!"  
  
"Because it's true, Mi Na. Don't you think so?" He released my hand and continued talking. "Everything you do has to benefit only you. It's like everything else and everyone else don't matter. You never stop to think of what your actions may do to others…"  
  
"That's not true at all!"  
  
"Oh? So then why won't you let me help you achieve your goal? Why do you keep running away from me, refusing me?"  
  
Unable to stand being under his admonishing glare, I turned my back to him with one of my trademarked huffs. "Because I don't want to drag you into something I may regret! I don't want you to run into Hwang!" There. I said it. I hoped that'd make him satisfied.  
  
He didn't look the part, though. "…Seung Mi Na, I don't care," he whispered now. His crying had ceased, thank the gods, and he looked rather collected despite some shakiness in his voice or the constant curling of his fingers into fists. And before I knew what was going on, he ensnared his arms about me, keeping his hands locked together at my belly and resting his chin on my shoulder so that I can hear—no, feel his breath tickling my ear. His grip kept me in place so I couldn't escape him. And I didn't want to. "I only care about you. I…"  
  
  
[meanwhile…]  
  
He was taking an awfully long time.  
  
"…I'm tired."  
  
I mean, how long can it possibly take you to run after someone and come 'right back', like he said?  
  
"…Kinda hungry, too."  
  
And just why did he run off after her? It was obvious that she didn't want to be around him, so what gives? Did she have something he want?   
  
"Thirsty. I'm thirsty…"  
  
The desire to know what in the world just happened between Kilik and that crazy Korean girl drove my nerves to the edge. It made my teeth gnash like they do whenever I hear the sound of bones popping or nails raking down a rock. I turned about and unleashed my anger in the form of a snap at the nearest person: a half-drunk, half-awake Ryukyu pirate. "Stop whining, Maxi! It's getting very irritating to hear your voice at the moment!"  
  
Maxi only regarded me with a flat gaze. Then… he let out a burp. A long and loud one at that.  
  
Why me?  
  
Frowning and on the verge of throwing him into the nearest pig-pen, I, instead, turned back to gaze at the thick forest that Kilik had ran into, hoping that he'd appear running back towards Maxi and I to say that the girl was too fast for him and that he will never see her again. The thought of that brought a bit of a smile to my face.  
  
And then I blinked, realizing Kilik wasn't there. He was probably successful in his pursuit… But I didn't want to think of that ever happening. I wanted to be the one he ran after. Not her.  
  
My little smile faded again when I came to the realization that I felt way different about Kilik than the way I felt when I first met him all those months back in northern India. I always thought of him as being a dense and uneducated boy who knew nothing about females. But after seeing his fierceness and dedication in the heat of battle, and learning about his tragic past and his hopes for the future, I developed something…   
  
I didn't know what it was until after the situation at Rhodes. The Korean girl and I had a misunderstanding—you know, the sort of things only other females can relate to. I figured Kilik, my friend and a complete stranger to this 'Seung Mi Na' girl, would side with me. Except things went differently. He defended her. Not only that, he thought I was being obnoxious towards her. The nerve!  
  
Normally, when others accuse me of behaving a certain way, be it too coy or obnoxious or immature, I often argue back or shrug it off; in any case, I don't let such trifle things get to me. But only his words struck a chord within me. Then I realized I was jealous. I, Xianghua, was emerald-green with envy towards Seung Mi Na. It made me sick to my stomach.  
  
I didn't want to think of myself as the jealous type, and Kilik only served to remind me that for a brief moment, he was not on my side and perhaps charmed by a tomboyish girl from Korea. Impulsively, I distanced myself away from him and Maxi. Big time. I made up a silly little lie, saying that several people from my traveling Chinese Opera Troupe were having a rendezvous that I needed to attend to in Germany. Then I left.  
  
That was the stupidest thing I ever did in my seventeen [1] years of life. While I was alone in Germany, I was regretful and I kept searching everywhere for them, frantically, like a chicken with its head cut off. When I heard from some girls that they spotted the ever-so-handsome Kilik around, I almost leaped with insane joy.  
  
We finally reunited. He apologized to me, which I didn't expect; maybe someone gave him advice? Or maybe he realized what happened to me? I don't know about that. All I know is that I was elated to be reconciled with him. Everything was just perfect between us, even as we set off to find Maxi and return to our initial journey. True, we found Maxi. But then we found Seung Mi Na, too. And then everything went downhill from there…  
  
Why can't things that happen in pairs be of the same kind? Why can't it be good-good, and not good-bad?  
  
"Xianghua."   
  
Maxi's voice stirred me from my thoughts. I glanced to him. "I can see that you're worried to death about Kilik," he said.  
  
Worried was not the word. It was more like eager to see him come back alone. "I'm… I just don't want to know what this can mean for us."  
  
"…Yer gonna have to explain that one to me. I'm kinda INTOXICATED," he grumbled to me, with a growl in the place of the last word.  
  
I resisted the urge to smack him into sobriety. I huffed and folded my arms across my chest, instead. "What I mean is… what if something happens that will turn the tide for us in our journey?"  
  
"Psshaw. That ain't gonna happen."  
  
"You sound so sure of yourself, drunk-o."  
  
"That's because I am," Maxi muttered while patting a hand against his chiseled chest. "I, for a fact, know that Mi Na has a similar goal to ours. She wants to get the 'Sword of Salvation.'"  
  
That was all I needed to hear. With a sudden burst of speed, I bolted into the darkness that was the forest.  
  
  


****  
  


[1] Just how old is Xianghua? Is she sixteen or seventeen? I learned different things from different sources, so I wouldn't know. And I didn't feel like hooking up my Dreamcast to check...  
  
**A/N:** Wow! It's been a while since I posted around here, huh? Er. Blame it on writer's block... ^_^;; Like I said, I decided to try something new and I wrote this in the first person, though I think I dragged on with Xianghua's part.. Hm. So what do you think? The story is going to go back to the third person---I just wanted to see if I can, in fact, write in first.. and on a side note, I might change my pseudonym...  
Anyways, _please_ read and review!!!!  



	8. 8

Xianghua sprinted as fast as her petite legs could take her, given the forest's obscurity and the obstacles in her path. Her wheezes sounded like a heated kettle, and her mouth was as dry as the Gobi Desert. She was dead tired. Something drove her to bolt into the forest on a whim, without a thought as to why in the first place. It was good of her to say she ran into the German wilderness in the still of the night for Kilik---but then she'd be lying to herself. She ran in there because of Kilik and that other girl. Seung Mi Na.   
  
She gave up running altogether, and reduced her pace down to a sluggish walk, using the trees she passed for support. A myriad questions flooded her mind like a wave: What was she going to do? What if she did catch up to the young adults? What then?   
  
There really was no need for her to chase after the two, she realized. Kilik was a cool-headed young man with the natural ability to calm others with just his speech. He was more than capable of handling a girl who seemed paranoid, at least in Xianghua's coffee brown eyes.   
  
But that was not the outcome Xianghua desired.   
  
She wanted the girl to run away from Kilik. Forever.   
  
Xianghua ran her hands through her chocolate strands of hair, sighing out loud. Gods preserve her. She was jealous. It made her think forbidden, cruel thoughts. Thoughts she was not accustomed to having. She'd always thought of herself as a good and kindhearted person, and she knew many people would agree. Yet she blatantly wished for a stranger's misfortune...?   
  
It made her stomach churn.   
  
"Mi Na."   
  
Xianghua's ears picked up the sound like a bloodhound picks up a scent. It was undoubtedly Kilik's voice. As if her feet had a mind all their own, she found herself tiptoeing along the grass that led to a small, open space within the forest. Within that space were Kilik and that girl, Seung Mi Na. From her hiding spot behind thick bushes, she espied Kilik's limber arms ensnared about the Korean girl's thin waist from behind.   
  
Xianghua had to restrain herself to not scream out. Instead, she anxiously awaited the outcome of their so-called private exchange.   
  
"I never felt this way about anyone," Kilik went on to say. He ran his hands along Mi Na's belly, oblivious to the fact that he and the current object of his affections were being watched. "I don't know exactly what this is, but it's a good feeling."   
  
Much to Xianghua's surprise, she saw Mi Na try to jerk herself free from Kilik's hold, but to no avail. Despite his lean form, he was rather powerful, too. And there was something else. A well, but not entirely, hidden yearning in Mi Na's hazel eyes told anyone that peered into them that maybe she shouldn't resist the one holding her.   
  
No, Xianghua thought with a hiss. Fight it... Leave him.   
  
"Mi Na. You're going after the Sword of Salvation, aren't you?"   
  
Xianghua blinked. This girl was going after the Soul Calibur? The sword her mother told her about?   
  
"Yes but I---"   
  
"Then come with us, Mi Na," Kilik sighed out Mi Na's name as if it was the most heavenly word his vocabulary.   
  
Kilik, what are you doing? No!   
  
"I can't." Mi Na shook her head, hiding tears.   
  
"Why not? We can help you. We have the same goal... Maxi, you, Xianghua, and I... We're all going for the same thing."   
  
Stop it Kilik...   
  
"I'm too busy with my own problems; I can't bring them upon you and your comrades, Kilik."   
  
"It's nothing to worry about," Kilik argued, firmly. He appeared to be set on having her join them. His arms released her and his hands fell onto her shoulders, gently turning her around so that he can gaze longingly into her eyes; his leaned in to such a proximity with her that Xianghua had to squeeze her eyes shut. "We can help each other. Just give us a chance."   
  
Mi Na chewed on her lower lip to keep it from quivering. "Are you sure about this...?"   
  
Stop it!   
  
"Of course. I lo---"   
  
"STOP IT!"   
  
Everything about them fell silent. Deathly silent. Alarmed, Mi Na and Kilik turned to look in the direction Xianghua's deliberate shout came from.  
  
Xianghua was incredibly mortified. She felt as if a bright light was shining down upon her for all to see despite the forest's obscurity. However, she kept her ground, remaining where she was and ignoring the faint urge to run out of there as if the hounds of Hades were on her tail.  
  
Almost immediately, Kilik removed his hands from Mi Na's shoulders. He peered at his friend, his eyes slightly widened with his surprise. "Xi-Xianghua... I thought I said that I'll return soon..."  
  
"I thought so too," she said softly yet with a bitter edge to her voice. She squeezed her eyes shut and shook her head, reforming her thoughts and separating them from the indignant words a darker side of herself wanted to say. She fixed her gaze onto him and him alone. "...You were taking long and I became worried..."  
  
"...Everything's fine." Kilik rubbed the nape of his neck.  
  
"I can tell."  
  
From the corner of her eye, Xianghua noticed the color rush to the Korean girl's face. Mi Na bit down on her colored lips and left Kilik to do all the talking.  
  
Much to his discomfort, from the way it appeared.   
  
He glanced back and forth between both girls. If he hadn't known any better, he could have sworn he saw the tense sparks of lightning crackling in between them. This was not going to be easy, so he decided to digress, "Where's Maxi?"  
  
Leave it to him to change the subject, Xianghua thought. "He's where we were before you decided to chase after her like some lovesick puppy."  
  
Both Mi Na and Kilik sharply turned their heads to look at the Chinese; the former let out an audible huff and the look on Kilik's face registered his shock, and perhaps his disappointment. "What?"  
  
Don't act like you don't know what I'm talking about...  
  
"N-nothing. It's nothing," Xianghua dismissed with a bright (and forced) smile. She really didn't want to berate Kilik, even if she felt heart-broken to see that he had unintentionally revealed his interest in another girl. Having another heated argument with him was something she did not want.   
  
Kilik's eyebrows crinkled with his naïve confusion and he said nothing.  
  
Mi Na, however, wasn't so quiet. Or naïve. She saw right through the mask the Chinese girl wore. A fraction of the emotion she had been holding in silence was starting to expose itself. "Oh, it's something alright."   
  
The Korean took a single step forward and would have probably marched right up to Xianghua's face had Kilik not realized what was about to go on and stepped in between them. A hand was planted on her shoulders to keep her from advancing. "Mi Na... What's wrong with you? Calm down! Xianghua was just joking." He shot a glance over his shoulder towards the female in question. "Right?"  
  
"Oh yes, of course. I was just kidding." Xianghua fluttered her eyelashes at them.  
  
And Mi Na's fingers curled into tight fists.  
  
Kilik faced Mi Na fully then. Slowly and reluctantly, he removed his hand from her soft shoulder. "No need to get worked up. Xianghua jokes around a lot. Just like Maxi."  
  
The young man's words reassured Mi Na, a little, and she sighed softly to relax herself; her fists uncurled and she nodded. She uttered a barely audible, "sorry."  
  
"Speaking of Maxi," the deliberately loud tone Xianghua had used captured their attention and they looked towards her (or glared, in Mi Na's case). "Shouldn't we get back to him? He's tipsy and in a strange village. Not a good combination. Especially for him."  
  
"You're right," Kilik mentioned with a nod.   
  
Mi Na sneered and muttered under her breath. "She should have thought about that before."  
  
The expression on Mi Na's face did not go unnoticed by Xianghua, who, admittedly, did not hear what she had said. She decided to exploit that. "Oh, I'm sorry," she said in a syrupy sweet and innocent voice. "What did you just say?"  
  
An equally sweet smile spread across Mi Na's lips. "Oh, I just said that this place is definitely a bore. We should get a move on."  
  
Complete and utter surprise overcame Kilik so suddenly that his rich eyes nearly leapt out of their sockets. "Really!? You mean you're actually going to come with us...!?"  
  
Mi Na simply nodded and continued smiling that sweet smile.  
  
Xianghua wanted to slap her.   
  
"YES!" Kilik's bellow echoed throughout the forest and mountains; it was loud enough to be heard for miles around. He was elated, to say the least.  
  
No, no, no, no! Although Xianghua had learned from Maxi that Mi Na was in search of the rumored 'Sword of Salvation', she had to pretend otherwise. When Kilik was done expressing his absolute joy, she spoke up, innocently tucking a strand of her dark hair behind her ear. "I don't suppose Mi Na wants to get her hands on the Sword too, huh?" She laughed.  
  
Oblivious to his friend's faux ignorance, Kilik nodded enthusiastically. "She does. She's going to come with us."  
  
"...But you didn't ask me or Maxi..."  
  
"Oh, I know Maxi wouldn't mind; heck, he was already traveling with her before we caught up with him. And," he shrugged, "didn't you say that we should start taking this journey more seriously? I mean, like you said, we're going to need all the help we can get."  
  
Xianghua flinched. She did say those words, didn't she? She wanted to smack herself.   
  
The Chinese found herself reiterating her thoughts from before. Why did things come to her in pairs of good-bad? Was she truly that unlucky? Was this that 'bad Karma' her friend Mei-Mei told her about? "Yeah. I did say that." She laughed softly again, though it was far less as phony as it was before.  
  
"So come on! Let's get going!" A still jazzed Kilik clamped one hand over Mi Na's wrist and the other over Xianghua's. Both girls blushed at his gesture as he began to lead them on a path that would take them all back to the German village.   
  
As they traipsed, Kilik chatted up a storm, mostly about what he thought their plans should be from that point on. Mi Na replied to him every now and then, offering some input. On a normal day, Xianghua would have chatted and offered her own ideas.  
  
But this day was far from normal. 


	9. 9

Kilik never imagined there'd be a day where an inebriated Maxi would prove beneficial to anyone but himself. But there he was, corrected and entering a hot spring with food in his belly and a roof, although temporarily, over his head.  
  
Before and during the night that Kilik could only describe as simply unforgettable, the Ryukyu pirate had treated himself to one too many hard drinks and began facing the consequences---which Kilik now realized was a blessing in disguise. The alcohol slowly escaped Maxi's system and not too long before Kilik, Xianghua, and Seung Mi Na caught up with him again, his hangover began.   
  
As time went on, Maxi's throbbing headaches and fits of nausea increased and the trio showed no sign of returning from their impulsive dash into the forest. It didn't take long before he grew impatient with that unresolved love triangle, deciding he was better off heading back into the German town once dawn was on the horizon. Alone.   
  
Maxi didn't travel very far before he was spotted by a young German woman named Mirna who was instantly smitten by his exotic and handsome features. Maxi laid his cards out on the table and smoothed talk the plump lady so well, she went so far as to offer free lodging to him and his friends at her family's pride and joy: a large inn dedicated to visiting foreigners.  
  
"Maxi, you're one lucky guy," Kilik murmured as he slowly sank his body into the welcoming waters of the spring; the water, not scalding but comfortably hot, came to shoulder-level. Almost immediately, his tense muscles were relaxing; the road to relief was seemingly just downhill from here.  
  
_Good_, he thought. He really needed it, considering the events as of late. The traveling, reuniting, separating, running, kissing, arguing, walking… It was becoming too much for him to bear. He sighed heavily, taking in the steam of the spring as he stared at the cloudless sky above him. _Maybe things will finally go smoothly. Maybe we'll find Soul Edge and Astaroth and destroy them. Maybe I can rid myself of the evil within my soul… Maybe Mi Na and I…_  
  
Kilik made a tiny splash of water with a flick of his thumb on the surface. _Too many maybes…_  
  
But a little wishful thinking never hurt anybody. It surely worked for him whenever it came to Seung Mi Na.  
  
_Mi Na…_  
  
He wondered how she was doing. It had only been a few hours since he last saw her and already he missed her. _I hope she's getting along with Xianghua. Maybe I should go see her…_  
  
Another tiny splash. _There you go with the maybes again, Kilik._  
  
_Still, it wouldn't hurt to see her---_  
  
"CANNONBALL!!!"  
  
With that roar as his only warning and with just a towel draped about his waist, Maxi sprinted toward the spring and tucked himself into a ball as he jumped in. He fell in with a hefty splash---a splash felt mostly by Kilik, to be precise.  
  
_So much for things going smoothly…_  
  
The Ryukyu pirate resurfaced. His sable and once-coifed hair stuck to his face like wax yet failed to mask his jubilant grin. "MAN! That felt go~od!"  
  
"Oh yeah, having hot water rain down on you unexpectedly has got to be the best feeling in the world," Kilik said with a roll of his eyes after wiping them free of water droplets and wet strands of hair. The sounds of splashing water died down, leaving only silence.  
  
Maxi swam over to Kilik's silent little corner, frowning slightly. "Who peed in your breakfast this morning?"  
  
Kilik sighed exasperatedly. "No one. I just didn't want to be bothered right now."  
  
Maxi's bare shoulder lifted with his shrug. "I'd say I was sorry if I really was, but I saw no harm in hopping in… Especially to get away from Mirna. Did you know she waited at my door until I worked the nerve to get out of my room? And do you know how long that was? *Six* hours! Talk about obsessed!"  
  
Resisting the urge to remind Maxi that if it were not for the 'obsessed' Mirna, the group would be without the luxury of free lodging and meals, Kilik simply shook his head and added: "Seems like you're *real* comfortable here, though."  
  
"If this is going to transform into one of those conversations where you beat around the bush while at the same time you subconsciously whine about not going along further in our quest, save it. I already have a plan."  
  
Kilik snorted lowly. He wasn't a whiner… "And that plan is…?"  
  
"Simple. We're going to stay here for that semi-annual festival they've been talking about; it's in two days and it'll be a good time to wind down. And then, when it's over, we can head to wherever our clues may lead us," Maxi replied, confidently.  
  
"That plan is…"  
  
Maxi's intricately cut eyebrows raised when he smirked. "Genius, isn't it?"  
  
Kilik blinked. "It's actually kind of stupid," he said. Maxi's smirk faded so Kilik continued on, "Have you not noticed how we're short on money? And how we have *no* clues right now? I doubt we'll meet someone as kind as Mirna in the next town we stop in, *if* we manage to find a town."  
  
Attempting to save face, Maxi folded his sinewy arms. "We have a free day before the festival; we can use that to ask around and whatnot. And if we're as short on money as you say we are, we'll just sell and trade some supplies," he replied.  
  
"Sounds good, right now anyway. What about the girls?"  
  
"What about them?"  
  
"Have you asked them what they thought of your 'plan'?"  
  
"…No."  
  
"Were you going to?"  
  
"…No." Maxi shrugged and used his hands to slick all of his sleek hair back, ruining the hairdo he was infamous for…for the time being, anyway. Then with a grin he added, "well, at least that gives you *something* to do today."  
  
Kilik slapped his forehead with one hand and used the other to keep his towel at waist-level as he trudged out of the hot spring. He mentioned something along the lines of drowning under his breath.  
  
"You'll thank me in the long run!" Maxi called out to Kilik's departing figure, but the latter didn't seem to hear or care. Kilik simply raised a lazy hand and exited the spring area after sidestepping one of the lodge's patrons, a man to be exact. Well, at least Maxi had someone new to talk to.   
  
He took a gander at the man entering the hot spring. The stranger, feeling eyes on him, glanced to Maxi who lifted his chin toward him in greeting. The stranger nodded back silently and settled comfortably into the spring.   
  
"Adolescents," the Ryukyu pirate said as a sort of conversation igniter, "to them, everything that is not in their best interest is not worth doing."  
  
Judging from the man's countenance, he agreed with Maxi, perhaps completely, but he did not say anything.  
  
The pirate wrinkled his nose. _Not much of a talker, huh… Maybe he doesn't understand me? I know he's not German… Looks very… Asian. And familiar. Very familiar…_ Unlike his memory when it came to women, Maxi's memory in terms of men was pretty lousy. The only ones he remembered were the only ones that mattered. Everyone else was just another face in the crowd.   
  
But still. A man like this stranger, a fellow traveler from the East, wasn't very common back home or in any of the countries he'd passed through in the last couple of months. His maple colored hair was thick and spiky, rather unkempt looking (Maxi inwardly recommended a week with combs at first sight). Designs made with black war paint (or perhaps they were tattoos themselves?) were scattered across his upper torso, favoring the clavicle and shoulders. Though the stranger's eyes were closed, he bore a grim expression.  
  
Maxi could have *sworn* he'd seen this man before…  
  
But Maxi also figured if this man was important in anyway, he would have remembered him.  
  
  
  


* * * *  
  
**A/N:** Been a while, huh? Thank Soul Calibur 2 for this! ^_^  
  
Please leave me your comments in a review or an e-mail.  
mature@fanfiction.net | lulu_mature@yahoo.com


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